She Means Business; Five Awesome Tips To Manage And Grow Your Family Business
There were no second thoughts when Sonika chucked her nine-to-five job in mass media and communications to join her maternal side of the family in their garment export business. “It wouldn’t be possible to manage a business as well as plan a family at such an early age, if it wasn’t for the support I get from our family business,” she says. A family business is a commercial setup that is taken care of by generations of a family--related by blood or marriage.
Usually, a family business is a small-medium size business. Unfortunately, 90% of family businesses do not last beyond the third generation. But the good news is that 90% of the successful family setups have at least one woman on board. Priti Sureka, the CEO of Emami group; Nandini Piramal, the executive director of Piramal group; and Vinita Gupta, who along with her brother is in charge of the 12 crore Lupin are examples.
These fiery women have common working ethos. They have studied management, and being outspoken is a part of their personality. The role of a woman is changing drastically. More women scions can be seen leading companies. However, the rules for growing and maintaining a family business are pretty much the same for everyone.
Here are five awesome tips that will help grow and maintain a family business:
Identify the right person for the right job
Determine an individual's strong points and skills. Bias towards lineage or sympathy should be avoided.
Set clear goals
Once everyone has their positions, there should be set boundaries. There should be no interference with the working of another department. If one member is responsible for marketing, then he/she need not get involved in production.
Get legal advice
In order to avoid family politics, it’s best to have ownership, probable legal issues, compensations, renumerations and other financial matters written down.
Hire a 'guru'
A management guru, or a business consultant, will not only help solve any family issues that arise in the business, but will also motivate all the members to put in their best efforts. Most gurus also help sort out financial problems arising in day-to-day businesses.
Work out a plan and operation module
There should be a well worked-out master business plan that has the best interests of the business. This plan should be discussed from time to time with all the members of the family. The plan should be broken down to smaller chunks, and each member should have a clear vision of how to put the plan to action.
It is a known that only one in three family businesses survive. Family politics, ego and greed are some of the main reasons why such establishments fail. But such setups have a positive side too: No one knows each other better than family. If a proper system is followed, then working with your family can be both satisfying and profitable.
